Capturing Community Perspectives on Land Health, Degradation, and Restoration through Photovoice

Land degradation is a major challenge across the drylands of East Africa, affecting biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, livestock production, and human well-being. Understanding where degradation occurs, why it happens, and what restoration should achieve requires more than biophysical measurements. It also requires engaging with the perspectives, experiences, and priorities of the people who depend most directly on these landscapes, including how they define land health, understand degradation processes, and envision restoration efforts and restored landscapes.

To help address this challenge, two Formas-funded projects “Scaling rangeland restoration in drylands through synergies in the biodiversity-water-climate nexus- Restore4More” and “Have REDD+ conservation interventions prevented degradation and associated C emissions in Argentina’s Atlantic forests?”, joined forces through SLU Global seed funding to explore these questions in two contrasting socio-ecological contexts; the rangelands of West Pokot, Kenya, and the Alto Paraná Atlantic Forest in Argentina. The collaboration sought to better understand how local communities perceive land health, degradation, and restoration, identify locally relevant indicators of land health, and explore how these perspectives can inform restoration planning and implementation. It also created opportunities for South-South collaboration and knowledge exchange among researchers working in restoration contexts in East Africa and South America.

To investigate these questions, the project team used Photovoice, a participatory action research method that combines photography, storytelling, and facilitated discussion. By placing cameras in the hands of participants, Photovoice enables community members to document and reflect on issues that affect their lives, while creating opportunities for local voices and experiences to contribute directly to research, dialogue, and decision-making. Beyond documenting current conditions, the method can also stimulate reflection on the causes of environmental change, desirable future landscapes, and actions that can help restore degraded land.

In October 2025, a Photovoice activity was conducted in Chepareria, West Pokot County, Kenya, one of Restore4More’s four engagement landscapes in the Karamoja cluster. The campaign involved 94 participants from local communities across four sub-locations. To capture a diversity of perspectives and experiences, participants were selected from different age and gender groups, including adult men, adult women, male youth, and female youth.

The process began with training sessions introducing participants to the Photovoice methodology and the use of smartphone cameras. Participants were then invited to photograph places they considered examples of healthy land and degraded or “sick” land. The photographs were georeferenced and subsequently used as the basis for individual interviews and focus group discussions, allowing participants to explain the stories behind the images and reflect on their experiences. 

The interviews and focus group discussions were guided by the SHOWeD approach, a facilitation method that encourages participants to move beyond describing what is visible in a photograph to reflecting on underlying causes, impacts, and potential solutions. Discussions explored how participants perceived healthy and degraded land, the drivers of land degradation, its impacts on livelihoods and well-being, and the actions needed to restore degraded land. Participants also reflected on who bears the labor associated with restoration efforts and who benefits from the outcomes of restoration and improved land health.

Although analysis of the interviews and focus group discussions is still ongoing, several preliminary insights have already emerged from the Photovoice work in West Pokot. Across many discussions, participants associated healthy land with abundant grass cover, livestock productivity, food production, and livelihood security. In contrast, degraded land was often described through signs such as bare soil, erosion (including gullies), declining vegetation cover, and reduced capacity to support livestock and crop production.

The discussions also revealed important differences in how land health and restoration were perceived across participant groups. Women often described land health in broader terms, linking it not only to livestock production but also to food security, household well-being, and safety. Gullies, for example, were frequently discussed as both a sign of land degradation and a risk to people and animals, particularly during heavy rains. Men more commonly framed land health in terms of pasture availability and livestock productivity, while youth frequently highlighted how declining pasture resources can contribute to mobility and migration in search of grazing land. 

Participants did not view restoration as a single intervention, but rather as a combination of practices and long-term investments. Discussions highlighted the importance of soil and water conservation measures, grass reseeding, tree planting, improved grazing management, manure application, and temporary protection of restored areas. Training, knowledge sharing, and community participation were also frequently identified as important components of successful restoration efforts.

The findings generated through the Photovoice campaign highlight the importance of incorporating local knowledge and lived experiences into restoration research and practice. Understanding how different groups perceive land health, degradation, restoration opportunities, and desired future landscapes can help ensure that restoration efforts respond to local priorities and realities. For Restore4More, these insights provide an important foundation for supporting more inclusive, locally grounded, and sustainable restoration pathways in dryland landscapes.